Currently, widely used methods for taking care of human bodies after a person has died are burial in a cemetery, placement in a mausoleum or cremation. A person's body should be handled respectfully in any case. These methods have been used throughout history. Burial has grown to be very costly with the cost of the casket and plot of land for the burial. In some places there is a shortage of land for use as cemetery plots that increases the burden to those who wish burial. A decrease in the number of burials may result in an increase in the demand for cremation. However, there are issues with cremation. Although originally thought to offer an efficient and relatively clean process, the consequences of cremation have become increasingly apparent. For example, it is reported that 40% of the mercury emissions in the United Kingdom are due to cremation of human remains because of the mercury present in dental fillings. Also, cremation adds to the amount of greenhouse gases, from not only the body itself, but from a large amount of fuel needed to incinerate the body during cremation. The amount of fuel needed also makes the cremation process energy intensive, which is a concern because of the rising energy costs. Therefore, there is a need for an alternative method to either burial or cremation for taking care of a deceased person's body.
Some systems exist for the highly basic hydrolysis method of reducing organic materials to constituent parts. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,183,453, 6,472,580 and 6,437,211 describe methods for treatment of organic materials, such as medical waste, with highly alkaline solutions to convert the organic materials into sterile solutions and solids. Commercial systems utilizing these methods are available to handle medical and animal waste products and ensure complete digestion and sterilization of the waste before disposal. These commercial systems, however, would not provide the respect to a deceased person's body and would lack the dignity with which human funeral situations necessarily need to be handled. Also, these systems may not work fast enough to be able to be employed effectively within the funeral parlor/crematorium setting.